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United States Patent |
6,076,166
|
Moshfeghi
,   et al.
|
June 13, 2000
|
Personalizing hospital intranet web sites
Abstract
The server includes a layer for dynamically generating web pages and other
data objects using scripts, such as graphic, audio and video files, in
dependence on stored information indicating the user's needs and
preferences, including those presumed from stored information as to the
user's function, job, or purpose for being at the hospital, and logged
usage profiles, the level of the user's access privileges to confidential
patient information, and the computer and physical environments of the
user. Notably, the content is generated in dependence on the display
resolution and lowest bandwidth link between the server and browser to
limit the waiting time for downloads as well as the server load.
Inventors:
|
Moshfeghi; Mehran (Sunnyvale, CA);
Wang; Jun (Copertino, CA);
Wong; Stephen L. (San Francisco, CA);
Yu; Yuan-Pin (Sunnyvale, CA);
Glicksman; Robert A. (San Jose, CA)
|
Assignee:
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Philips Electronics North America Corporation (New York, NY)
|
Appl. No.:
|
785459 |
Filed:
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January 17, 1997 |
Current U.S. Class: |
713/201; 705/3; 707/9 |
Intern'l Class: |
G06F 013/00 |
Field of Search: |
395/186,188.01,187.01,200.58,200.57,200.62,200.6,200.63,200.67
707/2,3,6,9
705/2,3
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
5263165 | Nov., 1993 | Janis | 395/725.
|
5603054 | Feb., 1997 | Theimer et al. | 395/826.
|
5689708 | Nov., 1997 | Regnier et al. | 395/682.
|
5724567 | Mar., 1998 | Rose et al. | 395/602.
|
5737539 | Apr., 1998 | Edelson et al. | 395/203.
|
5748890 | May., 1998 | Goldberg et al. | 395/188.
|
5754939 | May., 1998 | Herz et al. | 455/4.
|
5796952 | Aug., 1998 | Davis et al. | 395/200.
|
5823879 | Oct., 1998 | Goldberg et al. | 463/42.
|
5826031 | Oct., 1998 | Nielsen | 395/200.
|
Other References
"Design of an Object-Oriented Multimedia Database for Personalized
Multimedia News" by Yuri Quintana, Canadian conference on electrical and
computer engineering, vol. 1, May 1996, (New York), pp. 282-285.
"An interactive, personalized, newspaper on the WWW" by Tomonari Kamba and
Krishna Bharat, Multimedia computing and networking, vol. 2667, 1996, pp.
290-301.
|
Primary Examiner: Beausoliel, Jr.; Robert W.
Assistant Examiner: Baderman; Scott T.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Renfrew, Jr.; Dwight H.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An information system comprising
a network and
at least one web server which is accessible via the network by user
equipment operating a web browser, which server comprises
means for dynamically generating content that is personalized to the user
taking into account user equipment environment information provided or
stored so as to be accessible to the server which is indicative of at
least the lowest bandwidth link between the server and the user equipment,
and
means for transmitting the dynamically generated content over the network
to the web browser in the user equipment.
2. An information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said network is an
intranet of an organization and said means for dynamically generating
content that is personalized to the user further takes into account user
need information provided or stored so as to be accessible to the server
which is indicative of at least the job of the user in the organization.
3. An information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said network is an
intranet of an organization and said means for dynamically generating
content that is personalized to the user further takes into account user
information provided or stored so as to be accessible to the server which
is indicative of at least access rights of the user to confidential
information maintained by the organization.
4. An information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for
dynamically generating content that is personalized to the user further
takes into account user environment information provided or stored so as
to be accessible to the server which is indicative of characteristics of
the room in which the user equipment is located.
5. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one database
comprising computerized patient records, and wherein the dynamically
generated content is provided from the at least one database.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein said means for dynamically generating
content that is personalized to the user further takes into account the
capabilities of the web browser.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the means for dynamically generating
content further comprises means for dynamically generating prioritized
retrieval rules according to which the content is dynamically generated.
8. An information system comprising
a network which is an intranet of an organization and
at least one web server which is accessible via the network by a user at
user equipment operating a web browser, which server comprises
means for dynamically generating content, wherein the dynamically generated
content comprises data retrieved from computer patient record information,
wherein the dynamically generated content is personalized to the user
taking into account user need information provided or stored so as to be
accessible to the server which is indicative of at least the job of the
user in the organization, and wherein the dynamically generated content
comprises elements presentable to the user by the web browser operating in
the user equipment, and
means for transmitting the dynamically generated content over the network
to the web browser in the user equipment, and
wherein the transmitted and dynamically generated content is presented to
the user by the web browser.
9. An information system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said means for
dynamically generating content that is personalized to the user further
takes into account user information provided or stored so as to be
accessible to the server which is indicative of at least access rights of
the user to confidential information maintained by the organization.
10. The system of claim 8 further comprising at least one database
comprising computerized patient records, and wherein the dynamically
generated content is provided from the at least one database.
11. The system of claim 8, wherein said means for dynamically generating
content that is personalized to the user further takes into account the
capabilities of the web browser.
12. The system of claim 8 wherein the means for dynamically generating
content further comprises means for dynamically generating prioritized
retrieval rules according to which the content is dynamically generated.
13. A method of providing content from a web server to web browsers of
users over a network in response to user requests comprising:
maintaining stored personalizing information for users;
associating the personalizing information applicable to each individual
user issuing a request for content; and
dynamically generating in the web server the content provided in response
to the request taking into account the associated personalizing
information, wherein the personalizing information includes the lowest
bandwidth link between the web server and the user's web browser, and
transmitting the dynamically generated content over the network to the web
browser.
14. A method of providing content as claimed in claim 13, wherein said
network is an intranet of an organization and said personalizing
information taken into account further includes the job of the user in the
organization.
15. A method of providing content as claimed in claim 13, wherein said
network is an intranet of an organization and said personalizing
information taken into account further includes access rights of the user
to confidential information maintained by the organization.
16. A method of providing content as claimed in claim 13, wherein said
personalizing information taken into account further includes information
which is indicative of characteristics of the room in which the user
equipment is located.
17. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of dynamically generating in
the web server the content further comprises providing the content from at
least one database comprising computerized patient records.
18. The method of claim 13, wherein the personalizing information taken
into account further includes the capabilities of web browsers.
19. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of dynamically generating in
the web server content further comprises dynamically generating
prioritized retrieval rules in response to each individual user request
and according to which the content is dynamically generated.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of dynamically generating
prioritized retrieval rules further comprises:
dynamically generating rules for user privileges and access control,
dynamically generating rules for user interests if the user is authorized
to information according to the rules for user privileges and access
control, and
dynamically generating rules for the user environment if the user is
authorized to and interested in information according to the rules for
user privileges and access control and to the rules for user interests.
21. An information system comprising
a network and
at least one web server which is accessible via the network by a user at
user equipment operating a web browser, which server comprises
means for dynamically generating content, wherein the dynamically generated
content comprises data retrieved from computer patient record information,
wherein the dynamically generated content is personalized to the user
taking into account the capabilities of the web browser, and wherein the
dynamically generated content comprises elements presentable to the user
by the web browser operating in the user equipment, and
means for transmitting the dynamically generated content over the network
to the web browser in the user equipment, and
wherein the transmitted and dynamically generated content is presented to
the user by the web browser.
22. A method of providing content from a web server to web browsers of
users over a network in response to user requests comprising:
maintaining stored personalizing information for users;
associating the personalizing information applicable to each individual
user issuing a request for content; and
dynamically and automatically generating in the web server the content
provided in response to the request, wherein the content is dynamically
generated taking into account the associated personalizing information, by
dynamically generating prioritized retrieval rules in response to each
individual user request and according to which the content is dynamically
generated, and wherein the dynamically generated content comprises
elements presentable to the user by the web browser operating in the user
equipment,
transmitting the dynamically generated content over the network, and
presenting the dynamically generated content to the user by the web
browser.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein the step of dynamically generating
further comprises retrieving at least a part of the content from computer
patient record information.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to information systems including at least one
web server which is accessible via a network by user or client equipment
operating web browser software. In its particular aspects, the present
invention relates to a web system or site which provides web or hypertext
pages and/or other data objects that are personalized to the user. While,
the present invention addresses personalization in an internal network,
known as an intranet, maintained by a hospital or similar institution,
many of its principles are also applicable to intranets in other settings,
to internets, and to the World Wide Web accessible via the essentially
global network known as the Internet.
Intranets are internal information networks which are based on internet
standards and protocols. World Wide Web tools are an ideal integration
solution for providing health care workers almost immediate access to data
from multiple sources in a hospital or other patient care giving setting.
Easy and uniform access to medical records, laboratory results, images,
notes, transcribed reports, and practice guidelines, can be obtained via
the intranet from a web server by user's computer or other web browser
capable equipment. However, the presumed needs, declared interests,
appropriate levels of access to computer based patient records (CPR), and
physical and equipment environments of users differ widely in such a
setting.
Conventional personalization systems match users to their declared and/or
logged topics of interest but do not take into account their needs
presumed from their professional attributes and assigned work, their
access levels to CPR or their physical and equipment environments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system wherein a web
server is accessible by a web browser via a network, wherein the presumed
needs, declared and/or logged topics of interests, access rights to
information and environments of users are taken into account in presenting
web pages to a user's web browser.
These and other objects are satisfied by a system and method in which web
pages are created dynamically based on the user's relationship to the
institution or the patient, and the users' function or job, and
information access privileges. Furthermore the web pages are created
dynamically based on the capabilities of the users' computers, computer
bandwidth connection, display characteristics, browser capabilities, and
physical room characteristics. In order to achieve this the web server has
to be supplied with information about the user and the user's environment.
This information can be obtained with the use of web forms, automatic
detection of the IP address of the requesting client, server-browser
communication, smart cards and/or active badges. Information about user
preferences, user's physical and computer environment, and usage profile
can be stored at the server. The server can then use all this information
to generate personalized content.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become
apparent upon perusal of the following detailed description when taken in
conjunction with the appended drawing, wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a block diagram indicating a web system according to the present
invention, including a personalized web server; and
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating how the personalized web server of FIG.
1 uses personalization information to personalize the web pages it
generates.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, there is shown a web system 10 for an
intranet of a hospital or other care giving institution including a
personalized web server 12 which in accordance with the invention includes
personalization means 20-28 which will be described hereinafter, and a
plurality of user or client computer or other devices capable of operating
a web browser, one of which is generally indicated at 14. The user web
browser operating equipment 14 and the web server 12 are coupled for
bidirectional communication via a network path, generally indicated by 16,
which in practice is implemented by one or more wireless or wired network
links having associated bandwidths or data rates. The user's equipment may
be of a type which varies over the gamut of web browser capable devices
including high and low end computer workstations, computer laptops or
notebooks, palmtops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and even
televisions, which may be equipped with separate boxes for that purpose.
The user may be a physician or employee of the hospital, a patient, or a
visitor.
The communication over path 16 includes requests from user equipment 14 and
responses from server 12 using the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP)
which invoke an operating layer or module 18 of server 14 providing HTTP
service. Specifically, user equipment 14 in a known manner requests
downloads of particular web pages written in hypertext markup language
(HTML) and other data objects (such as images and documents in the form of
graphics, audio clips, video clips or cines, and other files). The
responses from the web server, in particular the personalized web pages
and/or data objects provided, are dynamically generated in layer or module
20 using server scripts 22, that utilize personalizing information
maintained in the server's file systems or databases 24 (pertaining to
access privileges and security), 26 (pertaining to environment profiles),
and 28 (pertaining to user needs, preferences, and usage profiles).
Specifically, server scripts 22 check user access privileges, user
preferences, usage log, and environment profile. In the case that the
request is for a particular patient, access control for that particular
patient is also checked. The outcome is rules for retrieving computer
based patient records (CPR) information and rules for generation of web
pages. The scripts filter, retrieve, and process the CPR information. The
CPR information is distributed in the CPR databases 30 of the Picture
Archiving and Communication System (PACS), Hospital Information System
(HIS), Radiology Information System (RIS), laboratory system, Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) system, Pharmacy system, etc. The scripts then generate
dynamic server web pages. The web server sends back the dynamic web pages
to the client web browser.
The information necessary or useful to personalize the server's responses
include user attributes, user privileges, computer characteristics and
network connection, display characteristics, browser capabilities and room
characteristics. They are discussed individually as follows:
User Attributes:
User attributes indicate the relationship of the user to the institution or
a particular patent, as well as some interests and preferences. They are
divided into the categories of staff, patient and visitor, with
subcategories as follows:
Staff (physician (dept., function, specialty, interest, education, level of
security, favorite browser, etc.), nurse (dept., function specialty,
interest, education, authority for information access, favorite browser,
etc.), administration (dept., function, interest, etc.)).
Patient (inpatient, outpatient, dept./section (internal medicine, ER,
cardiology, etc.), favorite browser).
Visitor (for which patient, first time, regular, etc.).
User Privileges:
User privileges are organized into the following categories:
Write access
Read access
Full view to CPRs of all patients
Full view to CPRs of some patients
Minimal view to CPRs
No view to patient CPRs
Computer characteristics and network connection:
The computer characteristics and network environment aspects of the
computer environment are organized into the following categories, and
subcategories:
Type (SUN (Ultra 1, Sparc 20, etc.), PC (Pentium, 486, etc.), Mac, etc.)
Operating system (Unix (flavor of Unix), Windows (95, NT, 3.1), MacOS)
Support for audio and video, if any
Lowest Bandwidth Link to Server (bottleneck link): ATM, fast Ethernet, Tl,
Ethernet, ISDN, phone line, wireless
Display Characteristics:
The display characteristics aspect of the computer environment are
organized into the following categories and subcategories:
Spatial resolution (2K.times.2K, 1K.times.1K), XGA, SVGA, VGA, etc.
Monochrome or Color
Modulation Transfer Function
Amplitude resolution (number of levels of gray scale and/or of color)
Browser capabilities:
The browser capabilities aspect of the computer environment include the
following categories:
Whether or not Java is enabled
Whether or not ActiveX is supported
Which versions of HTML and HTTP are supported
Which plug-ins are supported
Room Characteristics:
The room characteristics indicating the physical environment of the user
are organized into the following categories and subcategories:
Function of room (laboratory, film reading, library, public room, private
office, home, etc.)
Lighting conditions (dark room, bright room, etc.)
Audio characteristics (loud room, quiet room, etc.)
The foregoing has described under four categories: (A) Access privileges,
(B) User preferences, (C) Usage log, and (D) Environment profile. Access
privileges depend on federal and state regarding patient confidentiality
law. Each hospital may also have their own protocols for ensuring patient
confidentiality, data integrity, and security (digital signatures,
authentication, and document alteration prevention techniques). The system
administrator of the hospital is responsible for maintaining the policies
and rules for access to information. Therefore, each user will have a
profile which will state what information for each patient they can
access. User preferences are entered by the user. The user can enter
preferences with the use of a hypertext markup language (HTML) form or
Java applets. The usage log for each user is automatically tracked by the
server. Environment profile information is obtained from the IP address of
the client, client-server browser communication, smart cards, and active
badges. These methods of obtaining personalization information will now be
explained in more detail.
With respect to the use of forms, the first time that a user accesses the
web server he/she will be asked to enter information about
himself/herself. This will only have to be done once, unless the user
needs to update this information. The form can typically ask for
information about the user's department/section, function, specialty,
interest, and education level. Since the client can have more than one web
browser, users will also have to choose their default browser. The default
browser is then started up automatically the next time they log in.
IP addresses of clients requesting information from the server, where they
are statically rather than dynamically assigned in the intranet, uniquely
identify the client. In such situations, the IP address of the client is
automatically detected by the web server when a request comes in. The user
environment information which is stored in database or file system 26 at
the server includes computer and room information. Therefore the IP
address can be used to identify the computer type (e.g. SUN, PC, MAC,
etc.), its add-on capabilities (e.g. sound card, video decoding hardware,
etc.), its lowest bandwidth connection link to the web server (e.g. ATM,
Ethernet, ISDN, wireless, etc.), the resolution of the display to which it
is attached (e.g. 2K.times.2K, 1K.times.1K, XGA, SVGA, VGA, etc.), the
location of the computer (provided it is not mobile), and constraints
imposed by the location. System administrators of the hospital's computing
facilities would update such system resource information as necessary.
The web server can communicate with the client web browser and detect the
browser capabilities (support for Java, ActiveX, versions of HTML and
HTTP, plug-ins, etc.). The web server can then serve the appropriate
content.
A smart card carried by a person (a credit card sized plastic card that is
embedded with a computer chip that can contain personal information) can
be read by a computer-based reader at client equipment 14, when a person
accesses the intranet. The information read from the smart card may be
used not only to prove identity, but also to provide the other user
attributes necessary to personalize web content.
Active badges (an Olivetti product) can be used to locate badge holders in
a hospital. An active badge emits its identification code at regular
intervals via an infrared source. This code can be detected and stored by
sensors that are distributed throughout the hospital locations where web
browsing can take place. Once the physical location of the web client is
determined appropriate content can be presented to them. This is
particularly useful for mobile client equipment, such as laptops connected
via a telephone or wireless connection. Most computers, however do not get
moved and their IP addresses can be used to locate them.
However the personalizing information is collected, as previously noted, it
is stored in the database or a file systems 24, 26, and 28 maintained by
the server 12. Since the client browser 14 can transmit its capabilities
to the web server, so there is no need to store this information.
Once information about the user and his/her environment is known, server
scripts 22 can be used to dynamically generate in module 20 the
appropriate content for the client. Server scripts can be written in
VBScript, JScripts, Java Script, Java, etc.
The following are examples of constraints imposed in personalizing the
content:
The specialty, such as cardiology, of a physician user should be taken into
account so that the physician receives only the news and information which
is presumed to be of interest.
A user should only see the information that he/she is privileged to access.
Rooms that are meant to be quiet rooms such as reporting rooms or library
locations should not be exposed to audio files.
A computer that does not have a sound card should not receive sound files.
A laptop with a low-speed modem and a small screen should not be exposed to
large movie files or large images.
A browser that does not support ActiveX should not be exposed to ActiveX
components.
Personalized content is not only more interesting and relevant to the user.
It also makes more efficient usage of network bandwidth and system
resources, and reduces server load. It can also reduce document retrieval
latency.
With respect to access privileges, it is clear that in a hospital
environment different users will have different privileges for access to
information based upon their specialty and their relationship to the
patient (i.e. patient's attending physician, consulting physician,
attending nurse, etc.). For example, not only do different
occupations/specialties need different "views" of the CPR which are
tailored to their needs but different patient relationships may influence
the level of detail presented in sensitive areas. For example, all
physicians who treat a patient may see that the patient is undergoing
psychiatric treatment, but the details of this sensitive area may be
privileged only to the attending psychiatrist and the patient. Also,
access to records for certain "VIP" patients (politicians, actors, etc.)
may be further restricted than for normal patients, due to the increased
potential for adverse publicity and blackmail. Patients should be able to
see their own CPRs, in full detail. The same is also true for legal
guardians of underage or legally incapable patients.
All users should have a default log-in which has minimal privileges, but is
based on location. Therefore, any health care provider inside a hospital
may be able to see a summary CPR for any in-patient without a special
log-in (other than identifying themselves as health care providers, for
example via smart card ID). However, this capability would not be
available from outside the firewall guarding the integrity of the
intranet.
Security within the intranet system is provided by well known protocols
which use digital signatures, authentication, and document alteration
prevention techniques.
In addition to user privileges and interests, the CPR may be tailored to
the user's equipment and link bandwidth. Many users (physicians, in
particular) may have several types of equipment/links e.g. at the office,
the hospital, and at home. Further, terminals which are not assigned to
particular individuals may be provided at the hospital for referring
physicians visiting their in-patients. Each user might, therefore have
several profiles. The profile placed into use at any given time could be
determined by the client location (IP address) and capabilities (some of
which come as CGI environment variables at log-in). Preferably, server 12
personalizes image size (full resolution or minified) and transmission
compression (none, lossless, lossy/quality) to the link bandwidth and the
capabilities of client equipment 14, so that the user need not wait for
large transfers at locations with low speed connections. This applies to
video and sound files.
Computers with low-bandwidth connections and/or low-resolution displays
need low-resolution images and lower frame-rate video. When considering
heterogeneous networks the lowest network bandwidth link between the
server and the clients is the limiting factor. Scaling and layered video
coding schemes are one method which can be used to multicast one single
compressed video stream across heterogeneous networks, computers, and
displays. The routers can then send the appropriate number of compressed
video layers to the appropriate machines for software or hardware
decoding. For example, a high-end workstation with a high resolution
display and high bandwidth connection to the server will receive the base
layer plus all the enhancement layers. An intermediate computer with a
moderate resolution display and a moderate bandwidth connection to the
server can receive the base layer plus some of the enhancement layers. A
low-end workstation with a low resolution display and a wireless
connection, however, will receive only the base layer.
The dynamically generated server pages can be partitioned to accommodate
different information categories. A large part of the page will be
reserved for personalized information. The personalized information is
generated using the user supplied preferences as well as by tracking the
user. For example, the web sites and content which the user visits most
frequently at specified times and dates can be presented to him/her at
similar times and dates. A section of the page can also be reserved for
general information which should be seen by everyone. Another part of the
page may be reserved just for advertising.
Hospital administrators can decide if they would like to generate extra
revenues through advertising. For example, hospitals may choose to charge
commercial companies who advertise on the hospital intranet. With a
personalized web site the advertising, can be targeted to the appropriate
audience. For example, drug companies can target the right specialists for
their products. Patients can be exposed to over-the-counter drug
advertisements and general diet and health related advertisement. Visitors
can be exposed to similar patient-oriented advertisements as well as more
general consumer-oriented advertisements.
FIG. 2 illustrates how personalization information is used to generate
custom web pages. The first step for the user is to enter his/her name and
password with a web browser at block 32 which is applied to the rule
generation block 34. The latter generates rules for retrieving the
appropriate information from the CPR and processing it for a personalized
presentation. However, if it is determined in block 34 that the user is
unauthorized, then in block 36 server scripts generate an error message
web page which is sent to the client at block 38. Information about the
computer is automatically obtained at block 34 from the IP address. The
user also has to provide at block 32 the ID of the patient which he/she is
interested in. This is because user privileges and access control rules
are patient dependent.
In rule generation block 34, the highest priority of rules are user
privileges and access control rules which are generated in a first stage
40. Thus, if a user is not authorized to view certain information
categories for a particular patient then such information is not
accessible even if the user indicates otherwise in his/her preferences.
User privileges and access control rules state which information the user
is allowed to access. User interest rules are then added in second stage
42 so that if the user is authorized to view certain information but is
not interested in doing so then he/she is not exposed to uninteresting
information. The usage log is also used here to make sure that frequently
visited sites and information are not filtered out.
The last set of rules, which are generated in third stage 44, take into
account the user's environment such as capabilities of the computer,
network connection, display, browser, and room characteristics. Thus, if
the display of the user can not handle high-resolution images low
resolution images should be presented to the user, even if he/she has
requested otherwise. There can be trade-offs for certain situations. For
example, if the network connection of the user is slow but the display
resolution is high the user can view high-resolution images and video
data, provided he/she is willing to wait a long time. The user should be
given the choice to make that decision if it does not affect anyone else.
The outcome of the three stages 40, 42, 44 of rule generation are rules for
retrieving CPR information and rules for generation of web pages. At block
46, using these rules, server scripts retrieve the appropriate CPR
information. The scripts also process the information at this point so
that it is personalized for the user. For example, high-resolution
images/video may be sampled at lower resolution, or numerical information
may be presented graphically. At block 48, server scripts dynamically
generate web pages for the client. The generated web pages are then sent,
at block 38, to the browser of the client.
It should now be apparent that the objects of the present invention have
been fulfilled. While the present invention has been described in
particular detail, it should also be appreciated that numerous
modifications are possible within the intended spirit and scope of the
invention.
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